Neural activity and the levels of high energy phosphates during deprivation of oxygen and/or glucose in hippocampal slices of immature and adult rats

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between neural activity and cerebral energy metabolism during anoxia or ischemia in neural tissue of different ages, hippocampal slices were prepared from four-, seven- and 10-day-old and adult rats. For the index of the neural activity, the population spikes were recorded in the pyramidal cell layer of the CA3 area. ATP and phosphocreatine levels inthe slices were measured during oxygen and/or glucose deprivation.After deprivation of both oxygen and glucose, population spikes of the slices from four, seven- and 10-day-old and adult rats ceased completely in 14.2, 11.8, 9.4 and 5.3 min, respectively. The level of ATP at the time of cessation of population spike in four-, seven- and 10-day-old and adult rats was 37.4, 30.2, 28.5 and 56.4% of the original concentrations. After deprivation of glucose only, the decay time of the population spikes of the slices from four-, seven- and 10-day-old and adult rats was 17.8, 14.5, 9.0 and 10.0 min and at the time of population spikes cessation the level of ATP was 99.8, 84.2, 79.3 and 49%, respectively. After deprivation of oxygen only, population spikes of the slices from four, seven- and 10-day old and adult rats ceased completely in 257, 283, 109 and 8.5 min, respectively. The level of ATP at the time of population spikes cessation was 50, 40, 36.6 and 94.4% of the initial values, respectively.These results indicate that the immature rat is extremely resistant to oxygen deprivation from a functional and a metabolic view, whereas in the adult rat, preservation of neural activity depends much on both oxygen and glucose. During glucose deprivation, population spikes of the slices of immature and mature rats ceased rapidly although the level of ATP is preserved at high levels. This suggests that glucose plays an important role in the preservation of neural activity in addition to its major function as an energy substrate especially in immature animals.